


In My Dreams

by arthursmorgan



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Friends to Lovers, M/M, but mac still loves him, cindee and charbitch are only sidepairings, dennis is a piece of shit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-26
Updated: 2018-08-26
Packaged: 2019-07-02 20:08:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,497
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15803700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arthursmorgan/pseuds/arthursmorgan
Summary: Dennis has been gone for a whole year. So many things have changed, so many things Mac wanted to tell him. So many days spent apart and so many chances lost.





	In My Dreams

Dennis has been gone for a whole year. So many things have changed, so many things Mac wanted to tell him. So many days spent apart and so many chances lost. 

The gang even got a new member, Cindy. Mac liked her, she was supportive and always looked out for the other, but she wasn‘t Dennis. God, Mac missed him. Of course he would never say that out loud, even though he had noticed the pitiful looks that Dee and Charlie gave him once in a while. Mostly when Mac went home really excited about something and came back visibly dejected to work the next day. That happened when Mac wanted to share something with his best friend and then realized that he wasn‘t there for him. That he left.

Mac had tried calling him so many times the first few months after Dennis had left. He never picked up.

—-

The gang was sitting at the bar in Paddy‘s when Dee wanted to announce something. She yelled about everybody shutting up and then calmy said „you guys, Dennis tried calling me yesterday.“

That obviously got everyones interest and Charlie instantly asked „well, what‘d he say?“. Dee told them that she didn‘t pick up, she missed it and had just seen it the next morning. Frank called her a bitch. Him and Charlie laughed about it. Cindy and Mac didn‘t. Their new member of the gang glanced over at Mac and then shared a look with Dee. He looked crestfallen.  
Was he sad that Dennis had called Dee and not him?

He shouldn‘t be surprised, since he came out Dennis had been acting strange around him. Mac blamed himself that Dennis left. He thought it was because he made his best friend uncomfortable. He‘ll probably never know the answer.

„Excuse me, I- uhm, I gotta go.“  
And with that, Mac left.

—-

Nothing really helped against the pain. Going to The Rainbow may alleviate it a bit, but it doesn‘t make it go away completely. Fucking some beefcake that he had just met made him forget about it for a while, but it was only temporary. Making stupid and reckless schemes with the gang made him feel something, delight, happiness, but that would soon fade, as soon as he stepped into his home that didn‘t feel like home anymore. 

He spoke onto Dennis‘ voicemail. He didn‘t answer. It was stupid anyways, Mac didn‘t know why he did it. 

—-

One morning, Mac woke up to a knock on the door. He groggily got up and answered, he didn‘t bother putting on a shirt since it was probably just the bird anyways. And it was.

She held out her buzzing phone to Mac and he looked at her with confusion written crystal clear on his face. Dee gave him an annoyed look and said „pick it up, it‘s Dennis. He‘s been calling me non-stop the whole morning. I don‘t want to talk to him.“ 

Mac squinted his eyes at her. What if this was just a joke? What if they wanted to make fun of him for missing Dennis? He decided to take the risk. The want to talk to Dennis greater than the fear of getting humiliated.

He pressed the green button and put the phone against his ear. 

„Dennis?“

„Mac?“, he was clearly bewildered by hearing Mac‘s voice instead of his sisters‘.

„Hi, Dennis.“

„Uh, hey. I- I actually wanted to talk to Dee.“ It came out more like a question. He was uncomfortable talking to Mac, Mac had noticed it and it hurt.

„Yeah, sorry. Bye.“

Mac shoved the phone back into Dee‘s hands, slammed the door in her face and went back to bed. He could hear her yelling. He couldn‘t tell if she was yelling at him or at Dennis. Maybe both.

—-

He dreamed of them a lot. Of Dennis and himself. Sometimes they were just hanging out, being their usual selves. Other times they were more. The kind of more that Mac had so desperately wanted for what must have been like the last 20 years. The kind of more he longed for everytime he shared a meaningful look with the other. The kind of more that would never happen. He guessed that he didn‘t deserve it.

—-

There was banging at his door. Why couldn‘t the others ever leave him alone? He yelled at them to leave. Was he even shouting? Whatever it was, they didn‘t hear him. The banging got louder and Mac got angrier. He got up and yanked the door open, bellowed out a loud „what?!“ and only then did he notice. 

It was Cindy. Just Cindy. How in the hell she fit that much power to bang so loudly on that door into such a small body was beyond Mac‘s comprehension. 

Mac sighed. „What is it?“ 

„Well, you haven‘t come out of your apartment for a week. I was worried about you, Mac. I thought you may have died in there.“

„Well, I didn‘t. So you can leave now.“

„Have you even looked at your phone this whole time?“

Mac was getting agitated. What was she talking about? „Why should I have?“

„Dennis called Dee. He said he‘s been trying to call you for like three days and you haven‘t picked up once. Apparently he‘s left you countless of voicemails. He then asked Dee to check up on you because he was scared. Dee just said you were fine but she told me to come by yours.“

He didn‘t know what to say. Dennis had tried to contact him? How had he missed that? Well, Mac knew how, but he hated himself for it.

„Uh.“ He looked down. „Thank you, Cind.“

„No problem, man. I‘ll go back to Paddy‘s now. You should call him.“

„Yeah.“

He shut the door and leaned against it. He took a deep breath and made his way to his bedroom, to his phone. 

He picked it up and sure enough, there it was. 13 missed calls and 5 voicemails. 

Mac decided to listen to the voicemails before calling him.

„Hey, Mac. I‘m sorry for yesterday.“ That must have been when he talked to him over Dee‘s phone, Mac thought. „I just- I was kind of overwhelmed. Please call me. I promise I‘ll pick up this time.“

The next four were very similar in nature. The only differences were that he got progressively angried at Mac. And in the last one all of that anger had washed away and was replaced by sorrow and worry. 

Mac dialed his number. He waited. One ring, two rings, three rings, four, five and on the sixth it stopped. 

„Mac?!“ Panic. „Mac, I‘m so glad. Listen, I‘m sorry. I didn‘t mean t-"

„It‘s okay, Dennis. You don‘t have to keep on lying to me.“

„What? I‘m not lying, Mac. I really am sorry.“

„Whatever. Why did you call?“ 

„I just- I- Am I not allowed to call my best friend?“

„So you decided to wait a whole year to call me, your best friend, and then get angry because I‘m pissed at you?“

„..You have no right to be pissed at me, Mac. I was busy being a resposinble father, you know. I just didn‘t have the time to deal with-"

Mac didn‘t want to hear what insult Dennis would come up with for him now. „Bye, Dennis.“

Just as he was about to press onto the button to end the call he heard a muffled „No! Mac, please don‘t.“

He didn‘t listen to him.

—-

The roles have reversed now. Dennis was the one always calling and Mac was the one never picking up. 

Mac didn‘t even bother listening to the daily voicemail he got. It was most likely just Dennis shouting at him for being an asshole.

—-

„I had a dream about you. It was,“ he let out a breathy laugh „it was pretty weird. We were raising Brian Jr. together, just like you wanted to. In our shitty apartment in Philadelphia. Don‘t make me tell you I miss you for you to answer my calls. Do you even listen to my voicemails? You probably don‘t. You‘re an asshole, you know that?“ A long pause. „But I do miss you. Brian is crying, I have to go. Bye.“

Dee, Frank, Charlie and Cindy visited him and made him listen to the voicemails. They all listened. Frank had to chuckle but then promptly got elbowed in the side by Charlie. He stopped. 

„Wow.“ It was Dee. „He really loves you, huh.“

„What?“ Mac was puzzled.

„Well, have you ever heard him talk like that? To anyone? Because I haven‘t and I‘m his sister. He loves you, man. You should call him.“

„Yeah, and do what?“

„Do what you always do. Forgive him.“

Everyone was looking at him expectantly while he was fighting an internal battle. 

„If you promise me to stop bothering me, I will think about it.“

Dee rolled her eyes, took Cindy by the hand and told everyone that they‘re leaving. 

Mac looked after the two women and wondered what he had missed. If he was being honest, he didn‘t really care that much.

He called Dennis. He picked up after the second ring. There was a lot of rustling and background noise on the other line. 

„Mac!“ Relief. 

„Hey, Den.“ His voice was soft. Too soft.

„I‘ve been calling you for days. I‘m sorry for what I‘ve said. I know I‘m an asshole and I know that nothing could change the fact that I just left and never contacted anyone for a whole year. Especially you.“

„Dennis. It‘s okay.“ A pause. „I heard your voicemail.“

The other man sucked in a deep breath. „Yeah?“ Very quiet. Barely audible.

„Yeah.“ Breathy, faint. 

„What-" he cleared his throat „What do you say?“

„It must have been a nice dream. I‘ve had a few of those too.“

„You did?“ He sounded surprised.

„I did.“

They talked about it all. How it was at home. About their new gang member. About Brian jr. Dennis said he was the best kid you could wish for. Mac was convinced he was right, if only for the fact that it was Dennis saying it, and it was Dennis‘ kid. And it was Dennis there on the phone with him. Dennis talking to him. Dennis, Dennis, Dennis.

God, Mac had missed that voice. He had tried not to. He had also tried not to ask the next question.

„When will you come back home?“

He dreaded the answer. Every second ticking by made his heart clench tighter and made his hopes smaller.

Finally „I don‘t know.“

Mac closed his eyes. „Okay.“

—- 

From that day on, they were almost constantly on the phone with each other. To the point where Mandy called him and said that she was really happy they were talking again and to say how sorry she was for being the cause of this whole mess. Mac told her that it was in no way her fault and that he had never even thought of blaming her. 

She was thankful for him and told him she‘d love to visit sometime.

He couldn‘t wait for that sometime.

The phone calls made Mac happier. More and more he went back to his old self. The gang noticed instantly. They were happy for him, especially Cindy. Charlie had clapped him on the back, said „glad to have you back, buddy!“ and then went back to smashing some rats head in. 

Dee had smiled at him from next to Cindy, said she was just happy not to have to listen to him whine all day long anymore. Cindy playfully elbowed her and Dee shrugged „it‘s true though.“

Frank didn‘t say a lot. It went in the same direction as Dee‘s. He sounded annoyed as he said that he‘d have to deal with Mac again now. 

—-

„I love you.“ 

A long pause, then, a soft „what?“

„I‘m in love with you, Den. I know that you know. And I also know that it sucks to say it on the phone but I just- shit, I couldn‘t keep it in any longer.“

No answer. Just breathing. 

„I- I don‘t know what to say.“ A pause again. Dennis collected himself before talking again. „Of course I knew, Mac, you didn‘t exactly hide it very well.“

„Didn‘t want to.“

„Yeah, sure.“

And that was that. They didn‘t mention it anymore. But it was out there now. It was all up to Dennis now. It was his decision what he wanted to do with it.

—-

Apparently Charlie was dating someone. The others didn‘t believe him at first, obviously. But since Charlie wouldn‘t tell them a single thing about his mysterious lover, the disbelief remained. Until, one day, he came into Paddy‘s with a familiar guy in tow. 

They all knew him from somewhere, but they didn‘t know who he was. Well, everyone did except for Cindy. 

Turned out it was that science guy that once used Charlie for his stupid experiment. Charlie never explained how they got together, he thought it was unnecessary and dumb. The only thing that mattered to him was that they were together and that the gang knew about it. 

And then that was settled. They all went on with their lives. They were naturally all a bit surprised, since they all thought Charlie was straight, but no one had any hard feelings. 

One day when they were sitting in the bar with everybody sipping a beer, Dee put hers down and said „we‘re all gay, huh?“

Mac, Charlie and Cindy just agreed with a few „Yeah“‘s. Frank protested, said he wasn‘t gay and then angrily left. Probably to pick up a female hooker to demonstrate his straightness. Nobody actually cared. They just kept drinking their beers in silence and when their shifts were over, they left.

—-

The next day there was a knock on Mac‘s door. It was already evening and he was convinced it was just Charlie, Cindy or Dee coming to annoy him. He was wrong.

He opened the door, ready to tell whoever of the gang it was that he didn‘t feel like going out and that they should fuck off and then promptly got all of the air sucked out of his lungs. 

It was him. He was actually there. Dennis came home to him. 

Mac just stared at him in shock. Dennis smiled at him. 

„Hey.“

Mac ignored it. 

„I‘ve been waiting for you.“

„Me too.“ And then Dennis kissed him. He took a step forward, grasped Mac‘s face in between his hands and just kissed him. Right then and there. Mac instantaneously kissed back, clutching at Dennis‘ waist, pulling him closer, as close as he could get, never planning on letting him leave again. 

When Dennis pulled back, he pressed his forehead against Mac‘s and they just stood there like that. It felt like hours. 

„I missed you, Den.“

Another kiss.

„I’ve missed you too. So much.“

„Will you stay?“

„Yeah.“

**Author's Note:**

> this is my first ever fic for sunny, so its probably still pretty ooc. i really enjoyed writing this tho and hope you enjoy reading it.  
> my iasip tumblr is @/chorleigh


End file.
